Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, known as Pac-World''' in Japan (パックワールド)' is a computer-animated television series which was produced for Disney XD. The series first aired in the United States on June 15th, 2013. The show features Pac-Man saving the world while attending high school. 52 episodes were produced. Many video games would later be released directly based on the series, including ''Ghostly Adventures'' (video game), ''Ghostly Adventures'' (Nintendo 3DS), ''Ghostly Adventures 2'', and Pac-Man Dash!. Summary Pac is a young Pac-Worlder with a belief for ghosts and a big appetite. He has been orphaned since he was young and lives in his dormitory. He has two best friends: Spiral and Cylindria, who support him all the way. One day, Pacster got lost in the school's maze and accidentally finds himself in an unknown ruin. His stumble inadvertently opens a gate to the Netherworld, where ghosts now haunt and terrorize Pac-World. Along with this, a bad lord ghost known as Betrayus has appeared and vowed to terrorize Pac-World after being banished for years. The series follow Pac and his friends as they embark on an adventure and heroism as they bust ghosts and stop Betrayus from conquering Pac-World. Episodes :Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (Season 1) :Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (Season 2) Characters Pac-Worlders The Pac-Worlders are a race consisting of spherical bodies with arms and legs attached to them. They come in different colors and sizes, but yellow Pac-Worlders are known for being able to eat ghosts. Aside from accessories like hats, jewelry and shoes, most of the clothing Pac-Worlders wear is nothing but sleeves for their arms and legs. Most Pac-People have circle based names (Cylindra = cylinder, Sir Cumference = circumference, Spheros = sphere, Skeebo = ski-ball, Spiral = spiral, etc.) '''Pac: (voiced by Erin Mathews) The main protagonist of the series, often known by the familiar "Pac-Man," which is his superhero name in this series. He is a young, Pac-Worlder who likes to gobble up every piece of food he see. He has been orphaned since he was a young child when he had lost his parents. He acts immature sometimes, but Pacster always gets the job done. Pac is the only Pac-Worlder who has the ability to scare and consume ghosts due to the fact that a prophecy called him as "the yellow one." To help him support his special gift, he uses Power Berries, which gives him powers. Cylindria: (voiced by Andrea Libman) Pac-Man's classmate. She is a pink, gothic Pac-Worlder who supports Pac all the way. Earlier in the series, she was originally Skeebo's girlfriend, but he broke up with her due to his cowardice. Cyli has a crush on Pac-Man. Spiral: (voiced by Sam Vincent) Pac's roommate. Spiral has been best friends with Pac and always stays by his side playing fun and games with him. Sir Cumference: (voiced by Ian James Corlett) An old-timely scientist who has been in his secret lab for ages. He is a green Pac-Worlder and he also provides Pac-World with a variety of ghostbusting weapons to help combat the ghostly menace. He helps Pac-Man and his friends along the way. President Spheros: (voiced by Samuel Vincent) The president of Pac-World and coach/referee of Pac-Pong in Spheria's flashback. He is Betrayus' older brother and a green Pac-Worlder. Spheria: (voiced by Ashleigh Ball) Pac-Man's aunt with a southern accent. She is very good at Pac-Pong, where she is known by her alias "Spheria Suprema." Skeebo: (voiced by Matt Hill) Pac's jock classmate. He's a bully who teases Pac all the time. Most of all, he is jealous of Pac's heroic status and wants to be better than him. Sherri: Pac-Man's classmate. She is a pink Pac-Worlder with braces on her teeth who knows that cheaters never prosper. Mr. Strictler: (voiced by Mark Oliver) He only appears in Driver's Pac where he fails Pac on his drivers test. He is Sherri's father. News Reporter: (voiced by Ashleigh Ball) She is a light green Pac-Worlder who is the local news reporter for all of Pac-World. Kingpin Obtuse: (voiced by Lee Tockar) A dark green crime lord of Pac-World's criminal underworld. He was paid by Lord Betrayus where he tricked Skeebo into stealing Pac-Man's Super Power Berries. Pacinator: (voiced by Ian James Corlett) The evil cyan pac-worlder who commited the genocide of yellow ones on the orders of an unknown client. He hired by the evil overlord alien, Apex. Elliptica: (voiced by Kazumi Evans) She is the pink Pac-Worlder. She is the niece of President Spheros and Betrayus. Moondog: (voiced by TBA) He is Cylindria's father. Starchild: (voiced by TBA) She is Cylindria's mother. Grannie: (voiced by TBA) She is Cylindria's grandma. Zac: (voiced by TBA) He is Pac's father. Sunny: (voiced by TBA) She is Pac's mother. Ghosts The ghosts are deceased living beings now in the form of supernatural spirits. They come in various colors: green, blue, red, purple, white, orange, pink, etc. as well as different sizes. When scared, they turn dark blue and shrink to half of their original height, similar to their appearance whenever Pac-Man eats a Power Pellet in the games. Betrayus: (voiced by Sam Vincent) President Spheros' younger brother and the main antagonist of the series. He's a selfish, childish, power-hungry and ruler of the Netherworld. He's really stubborn and wants all of his plans to go his way. He was the rebellious commander of Pac-World War 1 and 2 many years ago. After Betrayus lost, his astral spirit was separated from his physical body and he was banished to the Netherworld as a ghost. Seeking revenge, he took over the realm with a fiery claw hands and gained an armada of ghosts and monsters at his command. Betrayus is the powerful fire ghost. The Ghost Gang: The original characters which consists of the four original colored ghosts. They are residents of the netherworld in which just like the other ghosts, they have been separated from their physical bodies. They have been hoping to find a way on seeking redemption so that they may live another day. But apart from finding resurrection, they go on mischievous haunting for their own pleasure. But ever since they helped Pac and his friends, they harbored a secret relationship with him and became friends with him eventually. :Inky: (voiced by Lee Tockar) The blue ghost who has somewhat of a laid-back/goofy demeanor. He is the youngest member of the Ghost Gang. :Blinky: (voiced by Ian James Corlett) The red ghost with the loudest personality and acts as the leader of the Ghost Gang. He is working to create a united union to help rid of Betrayus' armada of ghosts and monsters. He was a Pac fu master before he was a ghost. He is the second oldest member of the Ghost Gang. :Pinky: (voiced by Ashleigh Ball) The pink ghost who has a crush on Pac. She is very possessive of him, becoming extremely jealous of any would-be or assumed rivals for his affection, particularly Cylindria. She often argues with her brothers, but loves them nonetheless. She is the second youngest, shortest and only female member of the Ghost Gang. :Clyde: (voiced by Brian Drummond) The orange ghost with a kind heart. At times can be a bit of a intellectual. sometimes when he's upset he splits in half. He is the oldest and largest member of the Ghost Gang. Glooky: a green ghost who's left eye is half shut from the bottom. He is a friend of Blinky. Ogle: a cyclops ghost who works as a food vendor. his menu consists of Maggotroni & Cheese, Slugsubs, Roachburgers, among other disgusting delights. Seymor: One of the creepies sent to retrieve the repository for Betrayus. Mavis: a female orange ghost who owns a pet albino stalker. Fred: a white ghost who was used in place of a white flag in the episode "Pac-Pong" Butt-ler: (voiced by Brian Drummond) Betrayus' servant and butler. He is a purple ghost with a butt-shaped head who wears a black bowler hat and speaks with a British accent. He's always loyal to his master. During the Pac-World War he was known as Corporal Honeyhead, a spy for Betrayus. Dr. Buttocks: (voiced by Brian Drummond) The Netherworld's greatest scientist with an ego rivaling that of Betrayus and is Butt-ler's twin brother. He also has a butt-shaped head, but is light blue, wears red framed glasses, has a mechanical claw for his right hand and speaks with a German accent. He specializes in inventing evil gadgets with his superior intellect. He can build nuclear weapons to his command. He also leads a special task force, But not before Butt-ler took over command of that force. He finds out the Ghost Gang are working with Pac-Man and his friends. Specter:(voiced by Brendan Ryan Barrett) The spy ghost. He is clever and manipulative and turns out to be a traitor. Master Goo:(voiced by Vincent Tong) - He is a calm but cocky Ninja Ghost who is a Pac-Fu Master. During Betrayus's deadly revolt, he discovered the dark side of Pac-Fu but was defeated by the Good Pac-Fu Masters. Years later, he became a Martial Arts Coach for Betrayus's Ghost Forces. He seems to be even stronger than Specter. Cyclops Ghosts: A race of Heavy-set, horned ghosts with one eye. One of them works as a food vendor, named Ogle. They are heavy duty supporters who carry heavy machineguns from their backs and protect Pro-Betrayist loyalists with blockades of barriers. Fire Ghosts: A race of orange ghosts who can emit fire from their body. Pac-Man can only eat them if has ice powers. Betrayus orders these ghosts so that they can work together to heat up the metal and melt it. Ice Ghosts: A race of blue ghosts who can emit ice from their body. They first appeared in "A Berry Scary Night". They can freeze just almost everything. Pac-Man can use his Fire Powers to melt them into splot. Lightning Ghosts: A race of yellow ghosts who can emit lightning from their body. They can lightning just almost everything. Tentacle Ghosts: A race of 4-eyed purple-black ghosts who look similar to jellyfish. They are really bad at guarding duty, And they're dumbfounded. Guardian Ghosts: Large ghosts who guard the netherworld. They wear metal masks, have glowing cyan-blue eyes, and usually carry a staff. Aqua Ghosts: Light blue ghosts with fins on their head. They first appeared in the episode "Heebo-Skeebo". Several of these ghosts wear black caps with Betrayus' symbol on it to hide their fins. Ghost Sharks: A race of ghostly sharks reside the waters of PacLantis. They first appeared in "PacLantis". They have special radar detectors on their head so that if they spot an enemy, they will hunt them down. Cap'n Banshee: He is the pirate ghost. Monsters/Others'' '''Fuzbitz: a small, furry monster who is Sir Cumference's pet. He has a similar appetite to Pac-Man. When angry he turns into a more ferocious version of himself, despite this ability Betrayus and Dr. Buttocks thought he was useless. Stalker: a black medium sized monster with 2 legs, a long eel-like body, and multi-eyed face full of sharp teeth. despite its ferocious appearance, its actually quite wimpy. In "No-body Knows" it was shown that some ghosts keep small (cat-size) ones as pets. Gargoyle: heavy-set blue monsters with three eyes and large wings. Their wings glow red when flying. Dr. Buttocks used an army of these monsters to invade Pac-World. Dragon: large red lizards with one eye and huge wings. They apear as a stone grey when sleeping. Slugs: Their are three types of slug in the netherworld; green, purple and orange. The green slugs are often used in netherworld delicacies (and often eaten while still alive). The orange slugs are used by Betrayus to spy on Pac-World. In "No-Body Knows" Betrayus used a large infestation of slugs to find the repository in the capital building. They seem a little reluctant to do as their told, seeing as one wouldn't listen to Dr. Buttocks when he told it to spy on Sir Cumferance in "Indiana Pac & The Temple of Slime". The purple slugs are underwater. Venus Dragon Flytrap: Large carnivorous plants (fly pitcher plant) indigenous to the Netherworld. They prefer scorching-hot temperatures. It'll grow the heat is over temperture, the bigger they are, the hungry they get. Fluffy: A giant Cerberus-esque poodle- Although it may sound sweet, when you anger it, it will turn into a demon. This "Poodle" has three heads. When they are actually nice, the middle one has a soft side and sends get well cards to his victims. Fluffy is actually a guard dog. MonoBats: Small bats with iris-shaped heads and a single eye. Madame Ghoulasha: a wicked nether-witch only appears in "Jinxed" appears in the Netherworld and casts a spell on Pac, causing him bad luck from her. Golems: Golems are beings made of solid stone, though slow moving, they are quite powerful. A number of them live in the temple in the North-West region of the Netherworld. Golems can sleep through almost anything, making them seem like normal statues. When awake their eyes will glow bright red. They are good at lifting super heavy tanks and cannons. Count Pacula: the villain vampac. Apex: the evil overlord pac-alien. He is the leader of Pointy Heads. Professor Pointybrains: The professor alien. He helped Apex. Tip: A brawny alien and one of Apex's followers who befriends Pac-Man. Jean: An evil genie. Dr. Pacestein: The talking brain. He is with his sidekick, Eeghost. Easter Peep: The chicken. Reception Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures received high ratings during its initial airing on Disney XD in both the United States and United Kingdom, mainly from pre-teen children. It also gained large viewership numbers in France and Spain.Various press releases from 41Entertainment: 1, 2, 3, 4 However, from critics and the general gaming populous (especially longtime fans of the Pac-Man series), the response was far more negative. Most of the criticism derived from the drastically different art style, and how many elements didn’t fit well with the already established Pac-Man formula. Also criticized was the lack of longtime characters like Ms. Pac-Man and Professor Pac-Man, who more or less had counterpart replacements with similar roles (such as Cylindria for Ms. Pac and Sir Cumference for Professor). Granted, much of Ghostly Adventures' criticism seems to have been from confusion as to whether it was supposed to be a permanent reboot of the Pac-Man franchise or just a side-series, with many not taking the idea of a reboot lightly. The show currently has a mixed review score of 4.8 out of 10 on IMDb.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2392179/ It is heavily implied that Namco Bandai intended for Ghostly Adventures to be a hard reboot or replacement for the Pac-Man series and continuity, judging from several past interviews for the games and show alike. The decision for a reboot may have been due to the (still-ongoing) situation with General Computer Corporation regarding Ms. Pac-Man, who demanded royalties every time she was used. More indication is how much merchandising and promotion they would give Pac-Man utilizing the Ghostly Adventures design (Pacster), which extended to smaller things that didn’t really tie into the series, such as Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, the Zoobe app, and many redemption games. Following the show being pulled from the air in 2015, the G.A. design of Pac-Man (and subsequently, the Pac-Man Party design) stopped being heavily used, likely due to the overwhelmingly positive response his reveal in Super Smash Bros. received, along with Pac-Man Championship Edition DX outperforming all of the Ghostly Adventures games combined. Despite this, the series still holds a cult following. To some degree, the Ghostly Adventures branch has been slightly vindicated by history for taking risks and trying to experiment - moreso than most Pac-Man media that followed it. Gallery For this page's full gallery, see Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures/Gallery. Screen04.jpg|Promotional image. Pacman_Poster_41 Entertainment.png|Promotional artwork. timthumb.jpg|Group artwork. Pac-pac.jpg|Pacster Characters.png|Cylindria and Spiral pac_is_back_6k_a_780-530x345.jpg|A photo of the three main characters with the codename "Pac is Back". External links *Official Website Trivia *The series was initially planned to air on Nickelodeon, but was later switched to Disney XD instead. Additionally, Ghostly Adventures was titled Pac-Man: The Adventure Begins in early development. *Originally the show was going to air on September 7, 2013. However, it was moved up to June 17, 2013 likely since the series was ready to be aired. *There are many differences from the unaired pilot such as ghosts being able to easily possess bodies (in actual series, they spit goo instead). *The theme song is rapped by popular internet vocalists Mic the Microphone and BlackGryph0n. *The maze Pac-Man went to is a reference to the game as it said "Level 256". *The designs for the Pac-Ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde, and others are very similar to the designs from Pac-Man Party and the alternate designs from Pac-Man Tilt. *Cylindria's 'prisoner number' in the episode 'President Possessed!' is 8675309, a reference to the hit song "Jenny/867-5309" by Tommy Tutone from 1982. *On November 16, 2019, the series premiered on Discovery Family as reruns. References Category:Pac-Man Media Category:TV series Category:Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures